Let The Monster Rise
by SolaceActor
Summary: Sony and Jack are happy. Now they're back with another plan to murder the Mayor. But there's someone watching from the sidelines. And they're going to be a lot more involved than they anticipated. Rated M just in case and it's a collab! Between Solace Actor and Asreil the Cat.
1. Chapter 1

"Ice cream… Must… Have… Ice cream…" I muttered, trying to crawl out of bed but with no success. It's sort of difficult to do with an insane criminal and fiancé holding onto you though. Like, really difficult. Jack Napier merely grumbled and pulled me closer. I closed my eyes and sighed irritably. I had really wanted that ice cream as well…

Changing my tactics, I shoved Jack off of me and then dove off the bed. He sprang awake, very noisily I might add, and I couldn't help but laugh at him as I ran out of the bedroom. If he caught me, I wouldn't be allowed ice cream for a day. That just wouldn't work. I heard thundering footsteps behind me and I accelerated, leaping over the bannister to land softly on the floor below. I had gotten so used to doing that now; I could do it almost effortlessly. Fortunately, Jack hadn't. He took the stairs instead. I gained a few more seconds, thank God, and I pretty much flew into the kitchen.

I liked our kitchen. It was large and easy to move around in. The counter was dark shined granite and all of the cabinets are a medium toned wood. Just the typical kitchen. But the fridge was more ice cream than necessary food. Which I had no problem with. I threw the freezer door open and took out the tub quickly. Shutting the door with my hip, I grabbed two spoons from a drawer and turned around to find Jack standing at the door.

"Oh, did I wake you? My bad." I taunted 'sweetly', and held out a spoon. He looked at it and then at me. He couldn't resist ice cream as much as I could. "Just this once." Jack warned me and I nodded with an amused smirk. He said that every time. I opened the tub and spooned out some of the ice cream. I then extended the spoon towards him and he took it almost immediately. Jack hadn't worn his ice cream in a while now. We had decided to stay low for a few months. Tomorrow would be the day we made our dramatic return. Gotham was seriously lacking in crime now, which pains me. Hello, the Mayor still needed to die a painful death!

Speaking of the Mayor and his much-needed death, I should mention that my heart is hurting. It's been aching since Jack and I moved to our lovely home. The house was huge. Too big for just two people. Every time I thought of the Mayor, I thought of Emily and how much she would have loved to see this house and Jack and I together. I still needed to avenge her but until then, I had to wait and bide my time. But still, the absence of a family member or a best friend was weighing heavily on me. I needed someone to talk to about girl stuff, as much as I despised it. I haven't spoken to anyone but Jack for the past few months. It hurts your mind, only talking to one person, despite the fact that they're your significant other or whatever. But Jack had proposed a few weeks ago. He had yet to find a ring.

"It's a good thing _one_ of us can draw." I muttered as we walked on the roof of Gotham's Art Gallery. Jack ignored my sarcastic comment but nudged my shoulder with his. Our makeup/masks were on. This was our big come-back. Or at least, something to give the public a little 'sizzle'. The message was pretty clear as well. Nothing like a nice and clear message of death. We had decided that we would be on our own for the most of it; no hired goons unless necessary. But, for this little event, we did pay someone with clearance to, uh… put something up.

Slowly, we moved our way through the skylight window. Lucky for us, the window was due to be cleaned. So, we lowered ourselves through carefully and landed on a… thing. What are they? A window cleaners scaffolding? I don't even know. Our big beginning.

"Greetings, ladies and gentlemen." Jack called out loudly. Everyone stopped their casual and dull observing of the paintings and looked up at us. To my glee, everyone froze. "_Charming_ to see you all again. How have you all been? Good? Not so good? Awful? Okay, we don't care." Jack spoke vigorously, which nearly made me laugh.

"Oh, we _have_ missed you. But, now is not the time for pleasantries." I told them all and I felt all of their eyes shift to me. Pressure, much? "We just wanted to let you all know that we're _not gone_. We're still here." I explained our little 'entrance'. Jack smirked a little and put an arm around my shoulder, giving off the impression that we were just chummy.

"So, as we speak, a new piece of art is being submitted. You'll be able to view it as soon as we're outta here. The artist is the _lovely_ Solace standing here beside me." Jack took on the impression of some kind of art guide. It sounded pretty weird. The crowd was chattering lowly between themselves. It irked me that they didn't have the courtesy of being silent. Honestly. "Did your parents not teach you that it's rude to speak over someone else? I thought civilians were polite." I said the last comment to Jack, trying to spark a reaction. Get a fuse going. It succeeded.

"We're not afraid of you." One man shouted out aggressively. I frowned down at him. Did I ask for him to be afraid? No. Did I ask for him to speak back? No. Did I ask for him to irritate me? No. "You know, I don't recall permitting you to speak. Nor do I recall telling you that you _needed_ to be afraid of us. I figured that you would work it out. Well done you on that, by the way. Very well done, I'm so proud." I said sardonically. He shut up, shocked at my somewhat casual speech. I shrugged at him. "You forget the fact that I'm human too. I'm a monster but then again… all humans are."

"Can we go now? These guys are boring me with their dull reactions." I asked Jack and he grinned evilly. He looked down at the crowds beneath us.  
"_So_ happy to see all of you again, but we have some more pressing matters to attend to."  
"Not that you're not interesting, of course. You can be _very_ interesting. Just… not right now." I explained quickly, acting as though I didn't want to offend them. Jack nodded at me.  
"And so we bid you all… Farewell." We bowed and turned away.

Jack threw down a smoke grenade and they didn't see us leave. But they did see the painting I had done on the 'Emotional' Art corridor. Would you like to know what it? Of course you would. It was red in the background and was spotted in the way a comic is. It's a picture of Jack and I standing back to back with Jack holding a small figure hanging from a hangman's noose, us in black and white. You could identify the figure with the noose as the Mayor. And all around the picture were 'HA HA HA HA' everywhere, in crazed red paint. I'll admit, I'm very proud of it.

"Well, that went well." Jack said with a big smile and we hopped into a helicopter that we had stationed there before. Jack had experience flying helicopters. Don't ask. It's a weird story. He sat himself in the pilot's seat, not bothering with a helmet, a mic or any head phones. He just sat and drove. I stood beside him and I couldn't help but feel like we were on that bus again, the first time I had ever met him. And he pretty much invited me to be his partner. I smiled at the memory. What we had in store for the city was going to be simply _spectacular_.

**So, this is a duo-story. Or whatever you actually call it. Anywho, this is a story by myself and Asreil the Cat. The story shall be posted on my account and next chapter belongs to her. That's how it's probably going to work. In any case, chapters from Jack or Sony's point of view belong to me. Asreil writes her character's POV. I'm not going to reveal their name just yet but you'll like them ;) Anyway, the ENTIRE plot is impro. We haven't discussed any sort of plot, outline or other major characters. If I write something unexpected, Asreil is going to improvise and develop it, unless I request an extra chapter or something and vice versa. So, hope you like this experiment! Cheers folks. Adios. **

**Luna**


	2. Chapter 2

"It's not bad" I mused "Not bad at all. Actually, it's quite beautiful."  
"If by beautiful you mean twisted and thoroughly psychotic, then yes. Now back off before I arrest you for contaminating the crime scene." The cop snapped, shoving me out of the way. I grunted and stumbled back, tightening my grip on my half-filled sketchbook. I had barely regained my balance when another officer grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me to the side. "We're gonna need a statement, ma'am" He said pulling out a pen and pad. "But I didn't see anything!" I whined, "First you don't let me look at the art in the Art Museum, and now I have to fill out paper work! You guys suck!" The cop glared at me from over his note pad and I grimaced.

"Uh... I mean, uh... YOU don't suck. The Joker and Solace suck for putting up a pretty picture without a... a permit or something... I LIKE COPS!" I blurted.  
"Yeah, right." the cop sighed before beginning his barrage of questions. "Full name?"  
"Savahna Cortez." I growled in response. I really hadn't seen anything except the painting itself. I had walked in just as the pair of criminals had left. The only useful thing I could say was that I saw the helicopter leave. Of course, half of Gotham could say that.

"Age?" He asked.  
"Old enough to be potty trained." I quipped.  
"Lady, you are one smart-** remark away from being charged with obstruction of justice." He snarled.  
"Twenty." I replied glumly. This cop was no fun at all.  
"Your address in case we need to contact you?" I reached in my pocket and pulled out my I.D., I handed it to him hesitantly. He rolled his eyes and snatched it from my hand. He reached for his cuffs. "That's it I'm taking you in!" he spat.

I jumped back and held my hands up. "NO! NoNoNo!" I shrieked, "I just moved here a month ago from Phoenix! I don't know my address yet! I swear! I'm not interfering, I'm just stupid! Wait… I mean..." The cop cut me off.  
"Jesus, woman! Just tell me what you saw!" I blinked, taken aback.  
"I saw a helicopter flying away as I was coming in about ten minutes ago. Then I saw people running out and you guys running in and then-"  
"I get it!" He fumed, throwing his pad down in exasperation. He squeezed the bridge of his nose and waved me away. "Just go home." I didn't budge.

"What? Do you WANT to go to jail?" He yowled.  
"Well, no." I said quietly "But I need my I.D." I pointed at the little card in his hand. With more than a little aggravation, he scribbled down my address before thrusting my I.D. back into my hands. I looked at the card, then at him. "Don't you need my phone-" I began.  
"NO!" He exploded. And with that I scurried out of the museum, but not before snapping a picture of the painting with my cell phone.

The walk home was long and hot, and I had to keep switching my sketch pad from one arm to the other to keep it from getting ruined by my sweat. As I went, I glanced at my surroundings, looking for something that would kick my lazy muse's ass into gear. The Joker painting had my mind working, but my muse was being a finicky little shit today. All was not lost though. Halfway to my apartment, I found a dead dog in the road.

"Oh no!" I breathed. I loved animals, and I hated to see them hurt. Still, after saying a small prayer for the creature's soul, I pulled out my phone and snapped a few pictures. No reason to let him die in vain.

"You were a beauty, weren't you?" I hummed, admiring the soft black fur and handsome build of the canine. It looked like my dead friend had been a large Labrador-Pit-bull mix. And handsome he was, even the way he had been crushed and smeared couldn't hide that fact. I slipped my phone back into my pocket and headed home. But not before bowing low to the corpse. "Rest well my friend."

Once I'd gotten home I'd already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to draw. I wasn't able to start working on it however, as I had barely gotten through the door before my mother had me in a bear hug. "Oh my God!" She sobbed "Are you alright? I saw on the news that the Joker and Solace attacked the Art Museum. I was so worried! Did he hurt you?" I hugged her back for a moment before pushing her away.

"C-can't breathe!" I gasped "I'm fine, mom. And the Joker didn't attack anything. He and Solace just hung up a picture of the two of them killing the mayor. They were gone before I got there!" My mom shook her head.  
"They JUST hung up a picture of them killing they mayor?' Savahna, that's bad. That means that... Oh, never mind!" She threw up her hands in exasperation. She leaned in to kiss me on the cheek, and then made a face.

"Savahna, sweetie, I love you. Now go take a bath. You're sweaty, you smell, and you work in the morning."  
"Well screw you too, old lady!" I sulked before giving her her own kiss on the cheek.

I smiled as she walked off, not the least bit offended by my use of profanity. She and Dad had gotten used to it and knew that I'd never meant any harm by it. Walking to my room, I put down my sketchbook and scratched my head. I gagged as I got a whiff of myself. "Woah!" I coughed, "I am one stinky motherfucker!"

I gathered some clean clothes and jumped in the shower. It didn't take long to bathe, and besides that I had a picture I wanted to get started on. As I walked back to my room I heard my mom reprimand me for never wearing girl clothes. She added that I would look SO nice in something sleek and classy, and I told her I would take it under advisement.

I worked well into the night on my drawing. It was a picture of the Joker and Solace playing with a zombiefied version of the dog I'd seen in the road. He was on his hind legs and tentacles were bursting from his stomach. Everything looked good, but I couldn't get the joker's left arm right. I tried to fix it for hours before finally throwing my sketchbook against the wall and giving up.

I must have fallen asleep at some point; because I woke up the next morning to my Dad growling at me for leaving my room light on all night. I groaned an apology before sitting up and pulling on my socks. I really was upset about leaving my room light on all night. I paid rent to my parents every month. It was a reasonable amount, but when the bills went up my rent went up. That was... Inconvenient to say the least, since I was trying to save up enough to get my own place. And since I didn't have any friends in Gotham, I couldn't exactly split the expenses with anyone. I threw on my pet store uniform before running out the door, grabbing some cookies from the counter to serve as a makeshift breakfast.

"Bye Savahna!" My mom called after me, "Make some friends today!" As I skidded to a halt at the bus stop, I had no idea that today I would be doing exactly as my mother asked. And bless her soul, if she knew who my friends were going to be, she probably would have advised me to become a hermit.

**A/N: Hope you guys liked this chapter, since this the first thing I've ever written on Fanfiction. And don't worry; Savahna will become properly murderous as the story goes on. Please review!**


End file.
